Labour’s shadow secretary of state for the environment was one of the party’s biggest casualties in yesterday’s election.
Sue Hayman lost her Cumbrian constituency of Workington, where the biggest local employer is the nuclear industry around the Sellafield site.
The shadow environment minister saw her vote plunge to 16,312, an 11.9 per cent drop which opened the door to a Conservative victory in the long-term Labour seat.
A report published by the Conservative-backing thinktank Onward at the beginning of the campaign had identified “Workington Man”- older, male, working class male voters in the north of England- as the key group that the Tories had to woo over from Labour at this year’s poll.
The Conservatives also retained the adjacent seat of Copeland, which includes Sellafield.
Last night also saw the defeat of Caroline Flint MP, who was one of the leaders of the cross-party campaign to introduce the energy price cap, in her Don Valley constituency.
Flint served as shadow secretary of state for energy and climate change under ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband, who narrowly retained the neighbouring seat of Doncaster North on a dramatically reduced majority.
However other Labour energy and water frontbenchers survived the party’s biggest general election cull in nearly a century.
Alan Whitehead, shadow energy minister, retained his Southampton Test constituency with 22,256 votes, which was 9.2 per cent down compared to the 2017 general election.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow secretary of state for BEIS (business, energy and industrial strategy), kept her rock -solid Labour constituency in Salford.
And Luke Pollard, who speaks on water issues in Labour’s shadow environment team, held onto the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport constituency that he won at the 2017 general election with a reduced majority.
All of the key energy and water ministers retained their constituencies. Andrea Leadsom, secretary of state for business at the BEIS and energy minister of state Kwasi Kwarteng both retained their constituencies.
So too did junior BEIS minister Nadhim Zahawi, whose portfolio covers the nuclear industry, water minister Rebecca Pow and ex-business secretary Greg Clark.
Prime minister Boris Johnson is understood to be conducting a limited government reshuffle early next week, which has been partly triggered by environment minister of state Zac Goldsmith’s loss of his Richmond constituency to the Liberal Democrats.
Sir Ed Davey, who was secretary of state for energy and climate change during the coalition government, retained his Kingston constituency and has taken over as interim co-leader of the Liberal Democrats following Jo Swinson’s loss in Dumbartonshire East.
The Conservatives also won the Welsh three-way marginal seat of Ynys Mon, which is the location of the recently cancelled Wylfa nuclear power plant project, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of former BEIS select committee stalwart Albert Owen.
Rachel Reeves, the committee’s chair, has retained her Leeds seat.